THE INSIDER A Newsletter of the Nova Scotia Dietetic Association SUMMER 2009

Special Interest Articles:

Continuing Develop-ment Tool Audit Results

(pg. 2)

NSDA Website: Members Only

(pg. 3)

Membership Update

(pg. 5)

College Update

At the May 2009 AGM, members unanimously approved the motion to ap-

prove, in principle, the Act and Regulations as presented for the creation of

the Nova Scotia College of Dietitians and Nutritionists.

External stakeholders have been consulted. Employers, unions, regulated and

non-regulated health professions, other provincial dietetic regulatory bodies,

and associations were identified as stakeholders. Letters of support have been

received from several of the identified stakeholders. Department of Health

officials are currently reviewing the proposed legislation.

Please refer to the members-only side of the NSDA website under College

Update for updates.

Representatives from the Alliance of Canadian Dietetic Regulatory Bodies,

Dietitians of Canada and dietetic educators from academic and practicum pro-

grams across Canada have formed a partnership to advance excellence in die-

tetic education and practice. This new Partnership for Dietetic Education and

Practice (PDEP) will create new opportunities to work collaboratively in areas

where the goals and achievements of the professional association, regulatory

bodies, and educators overlap. The Partnership will undertake projects in areas

of common interest to benefit the safety and quality of dietetic services and the

advancement of the dietetic profession in Canada. The Partnership’s initial

goal is to develop integrated competencies for regulation, education and ac-

creditation and undertake regular reviews and updating of the competencies as

needed in a dynamic profession. For more information, please visit the web-

site at www.pdep.ca.

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Continuing Development Tool Audit Results

The Quality Assurance Committee recently completed the fourth annual audit of members’ Continuing De-velopment Self-Directed Learning Tools (CDT). This year's audit was completed in the spring so that members would receive timely feedback and have time to make pertinent changes to their goals before act-ing on their plans. Members who were audited received individualized feedback, depending on their audit results; notifications were not sent to members with satisfactory audit results. The most common audit finding was that goals were written as job tasks or business plans rather than goals to increase knowledge or skill in a specific area. Examples: To develop a survey To revise policies To conduct an evaluation Another common finding was that goals were too broad or not written in a specific, clear or understandable manner. It is difficult to achieve and measure goals that are too broad; there will be no clear outcome, and it will be difficult to evaluate an impact of the plan on your practice. Example: To maintain my knowledge of current nutrition Of the 80 audits completed, 56 had satisfactory results and 24 members were sent letters that provided indi-vidualized feedback. Five members’ audits were classified as “referral review” and will be flagged and re-viewed according to policy IX-40 in April 2009. A referral review was warranted if the CDT was not com-pleted in entirety and/or there was no documentation of the impact of the competency plan on competency and/or practice.

If you would like to discuss your audit result, please contact Jennifer Garus at (902) 835-0253.

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Professional Directory

To support members in their practice, members' employment information can be found on the members-only side of the website. NSDA seeks members’ permission on the Annual Renewal Form in order to post this information. If you do not want your information listed, please contact Jennifer Garus at nsda@ns.aliantzinc.ca.

NSDA Policy Manual

The NSDA Policy Manual is posted on the members-only side of the website under the Volunteer section.

NSDA Website — Members Only

How do members log-on to the members-only side of the site?

Currently, all members share the same username and password. It has been mailed and emailed to members; please contact NSDA if you need a reminder. For the 2010 registration renewal, members will be assigned an individualized username and password to enable a more streamlined electronic renewal process.

You will also find important dates posted on the calendar. For example, board meetings and registra-tion deadlines.

Newsletters and bulletins are posted under the resource section so members can stay abreast of issues related to the regulation of their profession.

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May 2009 NSDA Education Day

A sincere thanks to Judy Jenkins, Regional Executive Director with Die-titians of Canada for providing us with an overview of DC's latest initia-tives and introducing the panel discussion on preceptorship. A panel of dietitians, consisting of preceptors in both traditional and non-traditional roles exclaimed the benefits of preceptoring and helped to dissolve the barriers as to why dietitians may not volunteer to take on the role of pre-ceptor. Thank you to Mary Jane Taylor, Marie Brown, Elaine Horne and Cathy Walsh for participating on the panel!

In Memoriam

Joan Stewart, a charter member of the Nova Scotia Dietetic Association, died in Halifax, Nova Sco-tia on July 16, 2009. As a dietitian, administrator “extraordinaire,” artist, leader, volunteer, and role model for countless dietetic interns and supportive colleague for dietitians across Canada, Joan will be remembered for her dedication to the profession, the energy and creativeness she brought to every task and her artistic talents which are so evident in her beautiful paintings, her home and gardens.

Joan graduated from Acadia University in 1951, interned at the Royal Victoria Hospital, and for many years, was Director of Dietetics at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax. She was a found-ing member of the Nova Scotia Dietetic Association and also it’s President. She served as President of the Canadian Dietetic Association and on the Board of Directors. She was known for her passion to give the very best, her persistence in achieving her goals, and her concern for the welfare of all who worked for her. She was not one to send a problem to a committee! She tackled it head on with compassion and common sense and without delay so that little problems did not become big ones and all sides went away satisfied.

Those of us who live in Nova Scotia have lost a treasured friend, a colleague, a model of how we should serve our community and live our lives with joy, zest for life, giving of ourselves, and love of neighbor.

Submitted by: Judy Jenkins, Regional Executive Director, Dietitians of Canada

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Total Number of full registrants: 466

New Members:

982 Jayme Saint Annand

1104 Leslie MacKenzie

922 Amanda Hampton

1026 Amanda Ettinger

1105 Heather Church

1106 Maria Raffel

1107 Erica Savage

1108 Lauren Ostler

1109 Chelsia Gillis

1110 Heather Hill

1111 Rhonda Davis

1112 Kristen Vernon

1113 Jennifer Touesnard

1114 Lisa MacDonald

1115 Joanne Blight

1116 Valerie Blair

1117 Micheline Brideau

1118 Jennifer MacPherson

1119 Erin Walker

1120 Natalie Thomas

Membership Update*

Temporary Members:

TM 211 Cheryl Richards

TM 214 Stacey Lake

TM 215 Deborah MacLean

TM 216 Janet Hemming

TM 217 Bria Inkpen

TM 218 Stephanie McVarish

TM 219 Ashley Carroll

TM 220 Allison Hopkins

Resigned:

1102 Meagan Sullivan

1099 Stephanie O'Brien

259 Sandra McCorry

* This update reflects membership changes since March 31, 2008.

Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination - Fall Exam

Date: Saturday, November 7, 2009

Location: Mount Saint Vincent University

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Nova Scotia Dietetic Association

212-1496 Bedford Highway Bedford, NS B4A 1E5

Phone: (902) 835-0253 Fax: (902) 835-0523

Email: info@nsdassoc.ca

2009-2010 Board of Directors

President Jennifer Hutchinson

President-Elect Darlene Bogers

Vice-President Howard Selig

Treasurer Jane Pryor

Secretary Heather Dillon

Registrar Lisa Slauenwhite

Member at Large Shelley LeBlanc

Member at Large Cathy Lockerbie-Forrester

Member at Large Kimberly London

Member at Large Lisa Sutherland

Member at Large Patti Simpson

Executive Manager Jennifer Garus

(ex-officio)

REMINDER

Please notify NSDA if your employment or home contact information changes. As we rely upon technology to communicate with you, it is especially important that your email address is current in the NSDA database.

Members are welcome to attend Board meetings. Meetings will resume in October and dates will be posted on the calendar on the home page of the NSDA website.

Thank you to Vanessa MacLellan for formatting this edition of The Insider. Vanessa, a student in the Bachelor of Science in Applied Human Nutrition program at Mount Saint Vincent University is a vol-unteer with NSDA.